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CANTOR’S TICKET TO WALL STREET: A ONE-WAY RIDE? – POLITICO’s Ben White: “Eric Cantor made it clear to potential Wall Street employers that he wants to return to political life. But given where Wall Street currently stands in the regard of the American people, that may be an impossible fantasy … The corridor between Wall Street and Washington once allowed bankers and politicians to move relatively easily back and forth, filling up on cash in the financial world then shuttling back to positions of power and influence. Now it is much more of a one-way street. … Leave for the lucrative world of investment banking and you may never be able to go home again.

“Just ask Mitt Romney, whose millions from Bain Capital helped derail what many viewed as a potentially winning presidential campaign against a vulnerable incumbent running in a very weak economy. The nation is very much in the grip of a populist, anti-Wall Street sentiment that runs deeply through both political parties — much the way it did after the crash of 1929. And it makes moving between the two worlds extremely difficult, if not impossible, historians say.

IS WALL STREET MONEY THE END? — “In the 1920s, the House of Morgan had enormous influence in Washington and basically ran economic policy,’ said Charles Geisst, a Wall Street historian at Manhattan College. ‘After the crash, you did not see that kind of influence again for at least 30 years. That is what is happening now. If you go and you take Wall Street money, that can be the end for you.’ Larry Summers found this out in a very painful way when his candidacy to lead the Federal Reserve fell victim to a campaign by liberal Democrats enraged by his work for and close ties to Wall Street.

“Among Hillary Clinton’s biggest headaches are her ties to New York financiers and the millions she has earned in speaking fees from the likes of Goldman Sachs and other big banks. … Clinton keeps trying to come up with ways to talk about her wealth, and how she earned it, without turning people off. She has not found a way. And that may be because there isn’t one.”

HOUSES OF ILL REPUTE — “According to a Harris poll in 2012, four years after the crisis, 70 percent of Americans believed people on Wall Street would be ‘willing to break the law’ if it meant they could make more money. More recent surveys have not shown much improvement … In an NBC News/Wall Street journal poll conducted in July and August of this year, 21 percent had a positive impression of Wall Street.

“‘The mood about Wall Street has not improved significantly even as optimism about the economy has increased,” [AEI’s Karlyn] Bowman said. ‘You rarely see the kind of fear we saw in public opinion in 2008 and 2009,and it takes the public a long time to recover from something like that — and people are still very sour toward Wall Street.’

BUT THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT! — “Cantor supporters argue that the former House majority leader is going to a different kind of bank in Moelis, a smallish boutique that focuses on advising companies or mergers and acquisitions and does not have the kind of high-flying trading desks or rely on borrowed money to fund operations in the ways that Wall Street reform aimed to fix. Moelis is hardly ‘too big to fail,’ these people say.

And Ken Moelis hired Cantor, people close to the matter say, because of his ability to make complex deals — not because of any influence he could peddle with regulators or members of Congress. ...

“And Cantor defenders say he is not exactly raking in massive cash. The former congressman’s initial pay package, with a minimum value of around $4 million over two years, is indeed hardly mammoth by the inflated standards of Wall Street, where top executives and traders can make over $40 million a year and hedge fund titans sometimes top $1 billion annually.

“[But] [w]hile he likely won’t find himself trading mortgage-backed securities or pursuing leveraged buyouts, Cantor will almost inevitably find himself working on deals that wind up slicing some jobs while he earns the kind of pay that will make for easy attack ads in a primary or general election for governor even in a relatively conservative state like Virginia. … And the voting public is not likely to make the kind of fine distinctions between what Moelis does and what other Wall Street banks do. ‘People are not going to think of it that way,’ Bowman said. ‘They view all of Wall Street the same way.’” http://politi.co/1qzy8ja

HOT CLICK: YELLEN #2 ON THE “POLITICO 50” — The chair of the Federal Reserve ranks #2 on “The POLITICO 50,” a new annual list released today by POLITICO Magazine. Follow the whole list on Twitter hashtagged #POLITICO50 http://politi.co/1Bbvo0a

ADP PREVIEW – Pantheon’s Ian Shepherdson: “We have every reason to expect a reasonably robust ADP employment number for August today, but predicting the exact number with any great confidence is tricky. Since the October 2012 relaunch, the ADP number has tended to lag the official private payroll reading by a month, reflecting the methodology employed. … We are inclined, however, to look for a slightly stronger performance, about 220K, on the grounds that all the labor market indicators we follow suggest that labor demand is picking up steadily.

TOP STORY: BLOOMBERG TAKES BACK BLOOMBERG — NYT’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on A1: “Michael R. Bloomberg has decided to reassume the leadership of his business empire only eight months after ending his final term as mayor of New York.

Late Wednesday, Mr. Bloomberg told close confidants and senior executives of Bloomberg L.P … that Daniel L. Doctoroff, its chief executive and a longtime friend and lieutenant, would leave the company at the end of the year and that he would take over.

For years, Mr. Bloomberg had insisted that he had no intention of returning full time to the company he founded.

“When he left politics, Mr. Bloomberg, 72, was expected to devote most of his time to giving away his $32.8 billion fortune. Those philanthropic efforts — on issues like gun control, immigration and public health — were supposed to take up much of his time …

But in recent months, Mr. Bloomberg — who still owns 88 percent of the company — has become an increasing presence at Bloomberg’s Lexington Avenue headquarters. Those ‘few hours’ soon turned into six and seven hours a day with Mr. Bloomberg taking a hands-on role in meetings and strategy decisions. Mr. Doctoroff, 56, a former deputy mayor of New York and private equity executive, told Mr. Bloomberg about two weeks ago that he planned to resign, frustrated with how the leadership dynamic had shifted.”

WHEN GOD RETURNS … “Mr. Doctoroff, who remains a friend of Mr. Bloomberg and will join the board of Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation, explained his decision to step down: ‘When Mike decided he wanted to spend some time at the company, and then spent more time, obviously things changed.’ He added, “It isn’t the job I had for the past six years. It’s his — he wants to be involved. He doesn’t want to consult with me on everything. I get that.’ … ‘This wasn’t the plan,’ said Mr. Bloomberg, sitting next to Mr. Doctoroff on Wednesday at a coffee shop on the Upper East Side. ‘It was his idea. If it was up to me, he would have stayed.’

“Mr. Bloomberg said he fell in love again with the company that he founded in 1981. He said that after vacationing for a couple of weeks in January and working on his philanthropy, he realized that he felt most excited by his work at Bloomberg L.P. … With a wry smile and a laugh, Mr. Doctoroff said: ‘Mike is kind of like God at the company. He created the universe. He issued the Ten Commandments and then he disappeared. And then he came back. You have to understand that when God comes back, things are going to be different. When God reappeared, people defer.” http://nyti.ms/WevkNB

** There is broad bipartisan agreement that the Federal Reserve should have the authority to tailor its rules for the insurance industry. The Senate approved S. 2270, the “The Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014” by unanimous consent. Now it’s time for the House to act. Learn more at MetLife's www.responsibleregulation.com. **

FIRST LOOK: DeMARCO JOINS MILKEN INSITUTE — Per POLITICO’s Jon Prior: “Ed DeMarco, the former overseer of government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has accepted a position at pro-market think tank the Milken Institute as a senior fellow-in-residence … DeMarco said in a statement that he looks forward to writing and speaking about housing policy in his new role.

“Milken also published today a brief paper DeMarco wrote outlining his views of the current housing market and some broad thoughts about the challenges of setting up a new system that promotes affordable rental housing for the poor and home ownership as ‘a consumption good, not an investment.’

FIRST LOOK II: INVERSIONS ON THE RISE — S&P Capital IQ has a new report analyzing global M&A deals and finds that “tax inversions are on the rise: 35 such deals since 2009 to present compared with 17 from 1994-2000. In the last 12 months, tax inversions have represented just 1.4 percent of the 500+ global M&A deals over $1 billion. The reason for this increase: competition due to globalization. One irony to the controversial moves: some tax inversions end up being reversed as companies that relocated abroad come back to the U.S” http://bit.ly/1rNtJg9

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES – Kate Davidson on the new liquidity rules [politico.pro/1tumVEk]… Patrick Temple-West on how the business community scored a victory in new derivatives rules [politico.pro/1pKgtr1]… For Pro's subscriber-only coverage -- and to get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m. -- please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or info@politicopro.com.

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING — It’s officially back to school day in the Morning Money household. M.M. III’s first day at kindergarten. Man those allergies are acting up. Or is someone chopping onions around here?

DRIVING THE DAY — President Obama is in New Port, Wales for the NATO summit with Ukraine the top issue … Treasury Secretary Jack Lew today “will deliver remarks at an event commemorating the 225th anniversary of the Department. In his remarks, Secretary Lew will highlight Treasury’s historic role in our democracy and ongoing efforts to expand economic growth and opportunity” .. Lew also meets this afternoon with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at Treasury … ADP private payrolls at 8:15 a.m. expected to dip slightly to 215K from 220K … ISM non-manufacturing at 10:00 a.m. excepted to dip to 57.6 from 58.7 … ECB issues latest statement on policy with expectations growing for some kind of asset purchases.

LONG READ — Bloomberg View’s Matt Levine on the dismissal of the Goldman Sachs aluminum “conspiracy” law suit and the odd NYT story on the subject from last year. http://bv.ms/1r41B24

PUTIN OUTLINES CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL — Reuters’ Gareth Jones and Vladimir Soldatkin: “President Vladimir Putin outlined plans for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine on … but Ukraine's prime minister dismissed the proposal, while France expressed its disapproval of Moscow's support for separatist forces by halting delivery of a warship.

After speaking to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko by phone, Putin said he believed Kiev and pro-Russian separatists could reach agreement at planned talks in Minsk on Friday. ‘Our views on the way to resolve the conflict, as it seemed to me, are very close,’ Putin told reporters …

“They included separatists halting offensive operations, Ukrainian forces pulling back, an end to Ukrainian air strikes, the creation of humanitarian aid corridors, the rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and prisoner exchanges. Poroshenko indicated the conversation with Putin had injected some momentum into efforts to end a conflict that has killed more than 2,600 people since April, saying he hoped the ‘peace process will finally begin’ at Friday's talks” http://reut.rs/1w8pry3

ASTRAZENCA PRESSURED WHITE HOUSE ON INVERSIONS — WSJ’s Damian Paletta: “U.K. pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca … pulled out all the stops to fend off a hostile takeover from Pfizer … earlier this year, refusing to release certain financial statements and stirring up opposition from British politicians. Behind the scenes, the company also targeted Washington. AstraZeneca hired Wall Street advisers with close ties to the Obama administration: Thomas Nides of Morgan Stanley … and Roger Altman of Evercore … Nides and Altman made previously undisclosed calls in May, people familiar with the calls said, telling senior administration officials they should clamp down on a merger technique, known as a corporate inversion, that Pfizer wanted to use to make its proposed deal more lucrative.

“Several weeks after the calls were placed, Pfizer ran out of time to court AstraZeneca, and backed down. … Though Pfizer faltered for other reasons, the concerns raised by Messrs. Altman, Nides, and a number of other executives were among the factors that led the Obama administration to fight the inversion trend that has swept through the mergers-and-acquisitions world this year, a senior administration official said. Within a matter of weeks this summer, the Obama administration went from being a mostly passive objector to the architect of still-undisclosed policies aimed at curtailing the tax benefits of such deals.” http://on.wsj.com/WeuGQj

POLL BLAST: McCONNELL UP FOUR — POLITICO’s James Hohmann: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a slight, 4-point advantage over Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes among likely Kentucky voters, according to a CNN/ORC International poll … The results put McConnell right at the key 50-percent threshold with Grimes at 46 percent. This is consistent with other recent public polls, but it is also within the survey’s 4 percent margin of error. An automated SurveyUSA poll for the in-state media outlets released last weekend had McConnell up 46-42. …

“McConnell leads among men by 13 points; Grimes leads among women by 7 points. Only one in five likely voters said they ‘might change their mind.’ President Barack Obama’s approval rating is 33 percent among likely voters, with a whopping 63 percent disapproving. McConnell is winning 16 percent of Democrats. The president’s party maintains a major registration advantage in the once solidly Democratic state, but many consider themselves conservative.” http://bit.ly/1qze7t9

FED REPORT SHOWS SOLID GROWTH — WSJ’s Nick Timiraos and Sarah Portlock: “The U.S. continued its run of solid-if-unremarkable growth during the summer, the Federal Reserve found in its latest survey of regional conditions that offered little to suggest the economy was either decelerating or overheating. … [M]ore employers are voicing concerns about shortages of certain skilled workers [but] there were few signs of broad-based wage growth. … The report comes ahead of the Fed's policy-making meeting set for Sept. 16-17. Scant evidence of wage pressures should give the Fed greater breathing room as it considers when to raise rates” http://on.wsj.com/1qeci6a

DEM ODDS GROW TO HOLD SENATE — WP’s Chris Cillizza: “On July 15 … The Post's election model, gave Republicans an 86 percent chance of winning the six seats they needed to take over the Senate majority. Today — 50 days later — it gives Republicans only a 52 percent chance of winning the majority. … Democratic candidates are currently overperforming how past history suggests they should be doing in a number of races. In a trio of states that has caused significant movement in the odds in Democrats' favor over the past month” http://wapo.st/1tuVhae

ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR –

NEW HFT RESEARCH OUT TODAY — Per release out this a.m.: “New academic research that serves as guide to high-frequency trading proposes … to mitigate key problems created by high-frequency trading while simultaneously maintaining its benefits. The research from the Stevens Institute of Technology sets forth a new ‘information transmission zoning’ concept solution.

“Traders located within the innermost zone — defined as the zone wherein the trader receives prices prior to the general market — would be considered market makers and therefore be required to obey Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) market maker regulations. Traders outside this zone could act as traders”

ICBA DELIVERS PETITIONS TO REGULATORS — Per release: “The Independent Community Bankers of America … delivered to federal banking regulators a petition with nearly 15,000 signatures, representing nearly 40 percent of the nation’s community banks, calling for relief from increasingly onerous quarterly reporting requirements. Part of ICBA’s war on community bank regulatory burden, the petition highlights the increasing length and complexity of the quarterly call report” http://bit.ly/1u26Vbc

INDUSTRY GROUPS KEEP UP PRESSURE ON SIFI — Per letter to Jack Lew and other FSOC members from financial and corporate trade groups: “We are encouraged that FSOC has turned away from the Section 113 systemically important financial institution … designation process, which is inappropriate for asset management and plagued by procedural and substantive flaws, and instead has proposed proceeding with more risk-based analysis of specific products and activities.” Full letter: http://bit.ly/1rNuWUM

GOLDMAN NABS ALI BABA ROLE — WSJ’s Telis Demos: “Goldman Sachs Group … landed a coveted role in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s upcoming initial public offering as the bank in charge of overseeing the deal's early share trading … The role, known as ‘stabilization agent,’ was sought by banks currently working on Alibaba's IPO because of the prestige and potential additional fees and trading commissions that could be generated from overseeing the trading, people familiar with the matter have said.

However, it wasn't yet clear whether Goldman would receive a larger portion of the fee pool from the deal, as other banks also will have designated roles in the deal.” http://on.wsj.com/1xdm0KZ

** It’s time for the House to pass the ``Insurance Capital Standards Clarification Act of 2014.’’ The Senate already approved the legislation, S. 2270, by unanimous consent and the House companion bill (H.R. 4510) has broad bipartisan support including more than 190 co-sponsors. This bill ensures that the Federal Reserve has the authority to write capital rules tailored for insurance companies instead of imposing regulations developed for banks. If this bill doesn’t become law, the Fed would be forced to impose bank-centric capital rules on life insurance companies, which could lead to higher prices for consumers and even force companies to drop some insurance products altogether. Banks and insurance companies are fundamentally different. The House should act to ensure the Federal Reserve does not take a ``one-size-fits-all’’ approach to regulation. Learn more at MetLife's www.responsibleregulation.com. **